Budtender Contributions

The first time I took a dab… wow… seems like quite a long time ago. Probably around 2011, my homeboy from work at the time told me to come blaze before work, naturally, I said “Hell yea!” Little did I know the doorways that were about to be opened into the fantastical world of hash oil dabbing.

I vaguely remember my buddy’s rig at the time, probably your run of the mill bong with a titanium nail equipped, perfect for hot dabs with no flavor and all that punch that goes with smoking hash oil. Before you go to judge me remember it was literally my first time dabbing and the year was 2011, so yeah, cut me some slack.

Anyways,
I was on my way to work, stopped by my dude’s place, took my dab, left shortly
after. BOY-O, did I get the most baked I’ve ever been in my entire life!

I continued to voyage my bicycle to work at the local steakhouse where I worked as a line cook at the time. When I arrived, needless to say, my manager saw right through my Visine lacking eyes, told me I wasn’t allowed to use any sharp knives for the day, and banished me to the dish pit, I abided.

Fast
forward eight years and I’m doing a demonstration on how to do a cold-start dab
for my legal weed shop’s online blog. God bless America, and especially our
beautiful Pacific Northwest.

“What is a cold-start dab?”, you may ask? I’ll give you a quick description, as well as a video in which I will demonstrate the speedy cold-start dab.

A
cold-start dab is achieved by simply scooping up the desired amount of hash oil
and placing it into a non-heated quartz banger, attached to whatever rig you
may have. I personally have never attempted a cold-start dab on any other type
of rig besides your standard quartz banger setup. You proceed to cover the
banger with your carb-cap, prepare yourself for your dab as you heat up the
banger for 10-15 seconds (depending on the thickness of your banger).

You
then use your carb-cap to move the oil around your banger as you hit that shit!
Way to go dudes and dude-ettes! You have just completed your very first
convenient and tasty, cold-start dab.

So probably at least once or twice every day one of our customers says to me in the most Dazed and Confused-esque way. . . “Man . . . you got like the dream job man… Do you like get to test all these strains?” to which I reply in my most Half Baked-esque way, “Hell yea dude! And you best believe it my man! And the proper term is cultivar.” Okay, I may leave out the latter in my best attempt to not sound like a douche-bag, much to my boss’ dismay.

It had to have been about three to four weeks ago my boss was super excited to geek out on the latest terminology he heard from a key speaker at the Terpestival. The words “cultivar” and “chemovar” are more informative synonyms to words I classically knew as cannabinoid/terpene profile and strain.

So, long story short, he informed us about this new terminology to help classify marijuana correctly for lab technicians and growers and everyone in-between. Nicholas Demski, a writer for terpenesandtesting.com, gives a clear and concise description of the differences between the term cultivar and chemovar.

A cultivar is what a grower might cultivate, a variety of a plant created or selected and maintained though cultivation, For cannabis; Sour Diesel, GG#4, and OG Kush are all examples of different cultivars, so yeah its means the same thing as the term potheads have used for decades, strain.

A chemovar is the term used when considering cannabis from a more scientific approach. By observing the terpene profile, cannabinoid presence, and other elements of the whole plant that are not inert, labs are able to identify different chemovars within the cannabis plant.

Demski paraphrases Dr. Ethan B. Russo in saying scientists don’t have the luxury of using generic names for plants that vary so wildly in their appearance yet have strikingly similar compound structures. Russo says that cultivars are eminently malleable, and are as simple to alter as writing a new label. Chemovars is needed for precise dosing and consumers looking to replicate an exact effect. Lab technicians need to isolate these measurable chemical markers found in cannabis to help classify the industry and differentiate between plant chemistries, and the physiological effects the plants will trigger.

Before I give you my opinion on this spicy new terminology, I highly suggest reading a piece by Dominic Corva, titled ‘The Chemovar and the Cultivar.” Corva does a beautiful job explaining the differences between some of these newer terminologies and how they relate to older ones we might be using wrongly.

So back to my opinion piece . . . I am 100% for the unifying of cannabis culture and mass informing of any thing that has to do with a positive effect in the industry, especially when talked about by significant industry players like Dr. Ethan Russo, and Dominic Corva. But holy shit, most consumers aren’t ready to hear these pretentious sounding words describing weed.

Washington State Disclaimer

This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children.